Wet ice and freezing rain have to be some of the worst!
One winter day, when I was a kid in Toronto, I happened to be watching a neighbour chip away at her frozen over walkway at the moment that a very large branch of a maple tree, weighed down by all the ice, broke away from the tree and fell with a crash just behind the woman. It must have terrified her. Boy, was she lucky! She stopped what she had been doing and went inside. I don't blame her.

Here in So CA, near LA, we've had a warm winter so far, with only 1 day of welcome rain. Before that, our last day of rain was in May of 2020. And that was less than an inch. We're gonna be in the 80s for 3 days latter this week. I'll have to cover my lettuces. Too bad I had to yank all my tomato plants last month due to the rat problem. They would've loved this hot weather! Me, not so much. I want seasons! Well, at least what is called winter here--cool temps and rain. Seems we're just getting warmer & drier every year.

Frost on portions of the roof and a few plants this morning. Nearby temperatures, I’m pretty much dead center and less than a mile from each, on WU both show 29 degrees. Frost is on my one volunteer nasturtium and it looks like toast. Cabbage and Brussels sprouts have a little frost on them. There’s 3-4 volunteer tomato plants and they look fine, so does my large black beauty eggplant and lemongrass. Tree canopy just next to the garden and the lake 60 feet away must account for the lack of damaging frost.

Looks like I set the bar for not coming to work Monday.
They sent a group text saying the head vampire wanted everyone to take off early Monday to get to work due to ice on roads.
I texted back saying the chances of me coming to work were slim to nothing because I can't afford to wreck my truck.
That set the standard for everyone else.
If Worth isn't coming in then I'm not either.
What a hoot.

First blizzard of the season under way here. Will be 30-40 cm of snow and high winds. Schools closed early. Most people will be tucked in early to avoid the fender benders.

woke up to sleet hitting the window then switched over to snow.
it didn't stop snowing till past 5pm. i blew the driveway out with the tractor.
we ended up getting about 5 inches of snow. supposed to snow the next several
days, but nothing major. to date we have had 55 inches of snow not counting today.
last year at this time, we had 169 inches which is more typical for us. it has been a
light snow season so far. snow mobilers will be happy with the new stuff.
i just hope we don't start catching up all of a sudden. we can do without those
12 to 24 inch dumpings.


keith

Snow forecast for the weekend. Doesn't sound like a lot coming.

We got plenty this time. Took 40 minutes to shovel a path to where I parked the car half way out. Had a coffee and then 75 minutes more to clear around the car and the end of the driveway. Two hours of snow shoveling is about the limit of what I want to do in a day, especially with the wind gusting over 60 kph and windchill -12C. I reckon there are at least two more days of shoveling at that rate to clear all the way to the house so I can drive in and turn around. Fine by me, as long as I can do it in manageable bites.

[mention]Bower[/mention] Reading about your morning workout made me appreciate the sunny 45 degree weather here. Sounds like you need a 4WD or 4 wheeler with a snow blade attachment for that snow. How much did you end up with?

[mention]pondgardner[/mention] I would swag about 40-60 cm overall but there was a fair bit of drifting so some variable depths and pretty densely packed where the wind was howling over it. To put in perspective, an average snowfall here is 20 cm, and it takes me about an hour and 15 minutes to do the whole driveway and turnaround by the house. We had a couple of earlier snowfalls about 15 cm which took 45 minutes to do the whole area. Today my two hours did about 1/3 of the full area. Not complaining! Last year was the snow record, I don't expect to see that again for 20 years.

we are in for it now.

after two very pleasant days tuesday and wednesday with lots of sun, the worm has turned.
we have about a foot of new snow that started falling yesterday. wet snow that kept clogging
the chute on the tractor blower. my wife had a tough time clearing our long drive way.
colder temps have moved in that gets the lake effect snow machine geared up. we can expect
about 4 more inches of additional snow each day from now till maybe tuesday.
polar vortex is gonna drop temps to below zero.
february weather here can be bitter.
time to start moving snow.


keith

Feel for ya, Keith... we ended up just east of the jet stream and got the thaw this time. 3 days above freezing and my driveway is all clear. Sun shone today and 8C. I hung out laundry (okay I admit it didn't quite dry, but...) When the snow is turning to vapor it makes a fog near the ground. Clammy but good. Once it chills off again it will be really nice for working in the woods, I reckon, with crispy snow no more than ankle deep most places.
End of January the weather man told us we have the least amount of sea ice recorded in the last 50 years, for the time of year. We also had very little snow so far, compared to average winters.
So I am rocking the garden plans expecting a pretty early spring for a change.
Of course being February we may just as likely be up to our ears again in a week...

Rather stormy here over night with 36 mm/1.44 inches recorded at the local official site. Very coldy and a cool summer here, worse than last year, plants not happy

We're covered with snow! Highs will be in the single digits, sub zero lows and the windchill is dangerous.

spent a few hours moving snow yesterday with the plow truck, and tractor blower.
it went easier for me than the previous day for my wife because the temp had dropped somewhat.
no clogs in the blower chute to deal with. today was a different story. the wind was whipping around
blowing snow, couldn't see well. windows on the tractor cab kept icing up. when the temp. is very cold,
snow flakes are smaller. the drifts on the driveway are denser, and the chute kept plugging up. i had to
skim off the top layer of snow, back up, then blow the bottom layer of snow.
so, i am outside blowing snow, swirling wind, can't see, getting out of the tractor many times to unclog the
chute, and scrape off the windows. i had about enough by the time i finished.
i will get to do it all over again tomorrow before church unless its cancelled. the wind and snow is causing
white out conditions at times.
temp will dip below zero over night. windchill is well below zero. ugh.


keith

Crazy weather situation in Germany! We are divided into 3 parts: The south is rather mild, but partly flooded because of masses of rain AND the melting snow. Warm winds from the Sahara are bringing yellow-red sand, you can see it on the remaining snow and in the air. The north is much colder and it is snowing, snowing, snowing... No more trains, busses etc. and everybody should stay at home if possible. Already a lot of accidents, but no wonder - once the streets/roads are cleared, they are again covered with snow. Very unpleasant windchill because of strong winds from the east and north. And now the middle of Germany (where I am living): Icy rain was predicted, even thick ice crusts. This morning, when I opened the front door to have a look at our street, I was rather happy that we put all garbage in the bins yesterday - actually I would not risk putting my feet outside. No snow, but so much ice! We are living on top of a hill - one step only and I could find myself on the bottom of it. My son had already "salted" our pavement before the ice arrived, it may have helped a little bit, but not too much. Much more snow and icy rain are predicted for the whole week, sigh...

Ekh.... my dreams of a nice day in the woods have been dashed already. Wind warning in effect today with gusts to 100 kph. Snowstorm coming tomorrow and will keep on piling it up into Tuesday. Such is February!
I find it sad though that we are not getting more than 2 days notice for any kind of weather.

It's been cold, rainy and now drippy as most of the rain has moved on. Maybe some sun returning by late afternoon which would be a welcome change. The ten day forecast is supposed to be milder with highs in the low 60's and lows in the 40's-50's but they say that after that the bottom drops out again. Around here that means lows in the upper 20's. I have Chinese broccoli ready to set out in a few days. We'll see.

A balmy 15F here in the Ohio valley this morning, which will feel like a heatwave this weekend according to the forecast.

wildcat62 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:08 am A balmy 15F here in the Ohio valley this morning, which will feel like a heatwave this weekend according to the forecast.

It's supposed to get really cold this weekend here too. I've noticed mice are trying to get inside our house the past few days - they know it's going to get cold.